The Souris River neared a lower-than-expected crest Saturday in Minot, where city officials hoped to ride out the high water without losing more than the thousands of homes already damaged by flooding.

The river had been expected to peak early on Sunday at some 8½ feet above major flood stage, but it leveled off hours earlier and the National Weather Service dropped the projection by nearly 2 feet as upstream flows weakened.

It was a brief boost for a city that has already taken a heavy blow. Mayor Curt Zimbelman said more than 4,000 homes had been flooded in an evacuation zone of neighborhoods nearest the river. About 11,000 people were ordered out earlier this week.

Sgt. 1st Class David Dodds, a spokesman for North Dakota's National Guard, said the situation had "kind of stabilized" Saturday. The Souris' channel wasn't getting any wider.

"The fact that more homes aren't being engulfed or being touched by the water, that's the one silver lining if you can even say there is one," Dodds said.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple said he was encouraged.

"It looks to me like, barring any rainfall ... the (flood-fighting) plan looks like it's holding up very well," he said.

Zimbelman and others had fretted about rain in the forecast, but the National Weather Service said the storms didn't appear to be widespread or long-lasting.

But on Saturday evening, heavy rain and lightning were reported around Minot, and tornado sirens went off in Minot and Burlington, NBC News reported.

City spokesman Dean Lenertz said updated estimates of the flood's toll were being prepared. The city's water, sewer and electric power systems were still working. Workers labored to keep the Broadway Bridge, a major north-south thoroughfare, from being overwhelmed, a possibility that would divide the city in half.

Fed by heavy rains upstream and dam releases that have accelerated in recent days, the Souris surged past a 130-year-old record Friday and kept going.

Dalrymple spoke Saturday to flood evacuees at shelters at Minot State University's Dome, an indoor track and basketball arena, and at the City Auditorium. Thirty-seven people stayed at Minot State's shelter Friday night, and 237 people bedded down at the auditorium, the governor said.

The Minot State shelter was virtually deserted Saturday morning. One evacuee dozed among rows of cots lined up neatly on the dome's indoor track.

Dalrymple and his wife, Betsy, listened to Les and Jacque Younger, 30-year Minot residents whose home had been dry just a few days ago.

"We have about a foot, I think, to a foot and a half before (the flood water) goes to the second floor, and that's what I'm trying to save," Jacque Younger said. The couple, who had lived in their home four years, said they also lost a van to the water.

Minot State cancelled classes next week. President David Fuller, who was biking around campus to check on conditions, said classes wouldn't resume until after July 4 and only if the Broadway Bridge was open.

"Even then, we're going to have to reassess to see how that's going to impact the students' work in their classes," Fuller said.

Helping victims
The Federal Emergency Management Agency pledged assistance to flood victims in Burleigh and Ward counties, which include Minot and Bismarck, the state capital, which has been damaged by Missouri River flooding. Sens. Kent Conrad and John Hoeven and Rep. Rick Berg had pushed for the aid in a call to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and said they hoped it would be extended to other flood-ravaged counties.

Hoeven said a helicopter flight over the Souris valley showed damage to smaller cities around Minot.

In nearby Burlington, more than half of the town's 1,000 residents left late this week to escape the Souris. In Velva, a small town about 20 miles downstream of Minot, emergency levees were being built in anticipation of an expected crest on Tuesday.

Sawyer, a town of about 350 people, was under a mandatory evacuation order Saturday after the Souris flowed over the main dike around daybreak. National Guard soldiers worked on a secondary levee. Mayor Cy Kotaska said about three homes had been flooded

The National Guard activated 870 members for the crisis. Minot is best known as home to an Air Force base responsible for 150 Minuteman III missiles in underground launch silos scattered over 8,500 square miles in northwest North Dakota.

Col. S.L. Davis, commander of the 91st Missile Wing, said there was some "localized flooding" at a handful of missiles sites because of the wet spring and summer. But he said the silos are designed to safely handle some water and protective measures were taken at a few sites similar to what's done in preparation for spring runoff from snowmelt.

Meanwhile, Leon Delker, 55, who lives nine blocks from the river, brought in a survey crew that estimated the water would rise 3 feet on his front door. He planned to remove everything but the American flag in front of his home and "stay out until this thing is over."

Some residents took refuge on the Souris River Golf Course, where longtime pro Steve Kottsick, 59, pieced together a makeshift 8-hole layout on the flooded course. More than 30 people took their swings on Thursday.

"People are a little down and out," Kottsick said. "Hopefully it helps them maintain some sense of normality."

The city's other 18-hole golf course, the Minot Country Club, lost its clubhouse Thursday.

Amtrak has suspended Empire Builder passenger train service in part of Minnesota, North Dakota and eastern Montana due to flooding.

Shelters open
The Red Cross has set up shelters at the Minot Auditorium and at Minot State University for displaced residents. A couple of hundred people have used them so far, but that number is expected to increase.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been studying the housing needs in the area, but an official said as of Thursday night that they had ruled out bringing in trailers.

Many residents have moved in with friends or family and stored furniture from vacated homes at an area ice arena, temporary storage facilities and in garages across the city.

This June 25 satellite image provided by GeoEye shows flooding due to the cresting of the Souris River in Minot. Mayor Curt Zimbelman says demolition might be the only solution for nearly one-fifth of the homes in the city that have been damaged by Souris River flooding.
(GeoEye / AP)
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Floodwater from the Souris River surrounds homes on the right, as others sit dry in Minot, N.D., on Monday, June 27. Just 375 of the 4,000 homes in flooded areas were insured for floods, FEMA spokesman John Ashton said.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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Gordon Valgren, right, cleans debris from his flood-damaged home as his neighbor Clayton Rostad watches in Minot on June 27. Residents who live on the edge of the flood zone began to clean the water damage from their homes on Monday.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Floodwater pumped out of the basement of a Minot State University building is emptied across a levee into University Ave. in Minot on June 27. As the river hit its record-shattering peak and began a slow retreat, residents looked ahead to an arduous rebuilding job while continuing to deal with short-term obstacles such as sharing the homes of friends and relatives, traffic tie-ups and an advisory to boil drinking water.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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Floodwaters from the Souris River surround homes on 3rd St. N.W. near Minot State University June 27 in Minot, N.D.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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An earthen levee sits on top of 3rd Street N.W. in Minot, N.D., giving some protection to one house, left, and damming the Souris River on the other side near Minot State University, June 27.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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The National Guard provides two large "bladders," water tanks that hold thousands of gallons of water, one for non-potable water and one for potable water, for the water supply to Trinity Hospital in downtown Minot, N. D., near the Souris River in Minot June 27. There have been no reported deaths or injuries in the biggest flood in area history but floodwaters have all but swallowed more than 3,000 homes and displaced more than 12,000 Minot-area residents.
(Allen Fredrickson / Reuters)
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Mobile homes are submerged in floodwater as the Souris River crests as seen from the air June 26 in Minot, North Dakota.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Businesses are surrounded by floodwaters as the Souris River crests, June 26, in Minot, N.D. The Souris River surpassed its 1881 record level of 1,558 feet above sea level, flooding an estimated 4,000 homes in the city.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Zach Hillman, left, and Bill Damschen with the U.S. Geological Survey team mark the crest of the river with orange paint on a sidewalk across the street from Saint Therese The Little Flower Catholic Church in Minot, N.D., June 26.
(Allen Fredrickson / Reuters)
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John and Deb Walker, evacuated from their home flooded by the Souris River, hug during a church service for three Lutheran congregations held at The Vegas Hotel Sunday, June 26, in Minot, N.D.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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Federal workers use a boat to take North Dakota National Guard engineers off their equipment after securing cables to a pedestrian bridge over the flooding Souris River on Saturday, June 25, in Minot, N.D. The plan to drag the debris-filled bridge into a railyard parking lot was suspended because of lightning in the area.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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Homes are reflected in floodwaters, with the earthen levee of one house, center, appearing to remain intact in Minot on June 25.
(Allen Fredrickson / Reuters)
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A member of the National Guard runs down a newly built dike to help residents pack up as sirens sound declaring a mandatory evacuation of Sawyer, N.D., just south of Minot, on June 25. The floodwaters are expected to crest in Minot late Saturday or early Sunday.
(Craig Lassig / EPA)
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Rescue workers help a man who was trapped when his car stalled in flooding from the Souris River on Highway 52 south of Minot, June 25.
(Craig Lassig / EPA)
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Floodwaters of the Souris River flow through a neighborhood in Minot on June 24. The river broke the 1881 record for flooding there, rising so quickly that it could be seen climbing up the side of homes.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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A farm house and barn are surrounded by floodwaters from the Souris River near Velva, N.D., on June 24. The flooding is being fed by heavy rain upstream and water releases from reservoirs.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)
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National Guard Sgt. Chris Franck naps in the Burlington, N.D., fire hall after a shift on flood duty on June 24. At least one-third of the town's 1,000 residents were forced to evacuate.
(Dale Wetzel / AP)
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Flood waters begin to pour through a breached levee and and around the Minot Country Club on June 23 in Minot. Officials in North Dakota's fourth-largest city said Thursday they had done all they could to protect critical infrastructure from the rising Souris River as it headed toward a record flood.
(Christian Randolph / The Grand Forks Herald via AP)
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Volunteers race to add two more feet of sand bags to a massive dike around Mary Dittus' family gas station. Higher crest estimates of the Souris River flood waters were announced and more evacuations were ordered in Minot, on Thursday.
(Craig Lassig / EPA)
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Air Force Staff Sergeant Tina Miller and other volunteers race to finish a dike around the Little Flower Catholic Church after higher crest estimates of the Souris River flood waters were announced and more evacuations were ordered in Minot, North Dakota on Thursday, June 23. Reports state that up to one third of the city could end up underwater.
(Craig Lassig / EPA)
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Members of the North Dakota National Guard keep watch of the Souris River floodwaters in downtown Minot, N.D., on June 23. Nearly 11,000 residents have evacuated.
(Craig Lassig / EPA)
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National Guard personnel and members of the media watch as floodwaters from the Souris River threaten residential property as flood water is over topping earthen dikes in Minot, North Dakota on Thursday.
(Allen Fredrickson / Reuters)
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Members of the North Dakota National Guard work through the night building dikes as the Souris River floodwaters rise in Minot, N.D., early on June 23.
(Craig Lassig / EPA)
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Floodwaters from the Souris river begin to flood a Minot neighborhood on June 22. As many as 10,000 people raced to evacuate Wednesday as water began spilling over Minot's levees. The river, which begins in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and flows for a short distance though North Dakota, was all but certain to inundate thousands of homes and businesses during the next week.
(Christian Randolph / The Grand Forks Herald via AP)
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Frank Hughes, right, and Cheyenne Johnson pass the time in the temporary disaster relief shelter set up at the Municipal Auditorium in Minot, N.D. on June 22.
(Christian Randolph / The Grand Forks Herald via AP)
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Darrin Cox and Shawna Newell help evacuate a home in Minot, N.D., on June 22, before the final order to evacuate was given.
(Will Kincaid / AP)
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This evacuated apartment building in Minot, N.D., was spraypainted on June 22 with a black line and "1969" -- a reference to how high the last big flood rose. The current flood is likely to be seven feet higher.
(Will Kincaid / AP)
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Soldiers with the North Dakota National Guard place sandbags on a temporary levee in Minot, N.D., on June 22. Some 500 soldiers were in the town of 40,000.
(Patrick Moes / U.S. Army Corp of Engineers)
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Other parts of North Dakota are getting hit by flooding on the Missouri River. This home near Bismarck was being swallowed up by Missouri River waters on June 22.
(Brian Gehring / The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.